Fine Line
by stuckinimagination
Summary: AU. Haruno Sakura did not have anything planned after she decided to drop out of medical school so it came as a surprise to her when Uchiha Itachi approached her to become his PA. Five years later, every secrets from that day slowly started to get out just as they were getting busy planning a new fashion project.
1. Chapter 1

**Warning: Characters will be out of character for the purpose of this fanfiction.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be. Any similarity with real life event is not intended and is purely coincidential.**

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

It had not even been a day since she dropped out of medical school when she was approached by Uchiha Itachi, her best friend's brother. Truthfully, she dreamt about this a couple of times although all of those time, her dreams involved a different setting entirely.

It always went something along the line of "Sakura, I've been trying to find a way to talk to you" and ended up with "Will you go out with me?". Never had it ever involved the line "Sakura. Be my PA."

But in reality, that was exactly what she got. It was not even a question. He even had the decency to gift her that statement with a few threats of her embarrassing moments from her childhood. Normally, Sakura would have punched any guy who dared to threaten her all the way to Antarctica but this was Uchiha Itachi. This was the guy who she had been eyeing since after her embarrassing crush on her asshole best friend.

So naturally, her mind went blank and she somehow ended up saying yes. She did fume for a bit less than five minutes when she realized that she was practically forced into this position but when all the scenarios of her love life future progress started playing in her mind, she started to think that it could not be all that bad.

Well, that was five years ago.

Now, she had made her own name in the fashion world alongside Itachi's as the infamous designer and PA couple whose fashion brand became well known throughout Asia and had been invited to showcase their collection in New York. They had been in a relationship for more than three years and right now, they were currently planning their wedding.

Yep. That was a lie. Except the part about Itachi's fashion's success. That was real. The part about her love life was not. Nothing had changed about that. Her love life was still the same as it was five years ago.

Even right now, as Itachi was busily talking on his phone trying to talk sense into Sasori (another famous designer in Japan) while she patiently sat across him with her planner open and a glittery pen in her hand trying to not let a yawn out because she was getting tired of waiting; nothing had change. She was now officially his PA but that was it.

She watched as the usually composed man slowly placed the wireless phone down before a string of curses left his mouth.

"I swear, if that guy isn't crucial for this project, I would've already dropped him."

Sakura rolled her eyes while internally thanked God that she was the only person other than Kisame (and probably his mother, Mikoto) who had the privilege to see this side of him. "Kisame did warn you that he can be a bit difficult. You were the one who confidently said that he couldn't be worse than Sasuke."

Itachi did not answer her. "Are you acquainted with his PA yet?"

Sakura shook her head and met him in the eye. "No and no, I am not planning on it." Sakura was well aware of his usual strategy. He would always throw her into the lion's den to deal with all of his loose ends, i.e find out all the dirty secrets, before he strutted his way in shooting blackmails left and right.

To be fair, he would not do it as obviously as she described but there was a reason why Uchiha Itachi seemed to always look comfortable in his skin. The guy had all his ammo filled for whenever he needed them.

At first she also thought that there was no way that Itachi could do this kind of thing because he presented the image of a perfect gentleman. Not even Sasuke's tales of his evil big brother changed her mind. It was not until she involuntarily became his accomplice that she realized what kind of man Itachi really was.

"But I'll end up doing it anyway," she continued after a few seconds.

The corner of Itachi's lips twitched but they did not curl into a smile or a smirk.

* * *

Few days later, Sakura found herself sitting at a corner table inside an otherwise romantic restaurant. True enough, everyone around her was on a date except for one or two family who seemed to be celebrating something.

She did not know why she willingly came here when she could have just pointed him out on his bluff. Somehow, Itachi was getting more and more obvious about his scheming around her. She did not know whether that was because he was running out of ideas for her or just did not bother to think of a more foolproof setting because he knew that she would end up doing it anyway because let's face it, Haruno Sakura could not say 'no' to Uchiha Itachi.

She was already on her third glass of wine when she saw a blonde ponytail bouncing just below the entrance. She almost thought that it was Ino until her eyes landed on the man's broad shoulders and obviously masculine attire. She was aware that she had been watching but she refused to avert her eyes even as the man caught her looking.

She tried not to gulp when Male Ino started towards her table. Internally, she hoped that she was not sending some kind of a weird vibe towards him. The man placed one hand into his pocket and Sakura started to chant bacteria names inside her head to keep herself from panicking because she was sure that was one of the many things that men do to look attractive to the females they were targeting.

 _Shit! Streptococcus agalactiae. Enterobacter cloacae. Azorhizobium caulino-_

"Hi, I'm Deidara, un. Sasori-danna's PA," he introduced while holding the name card that he pulled out of his pocket in front of her.

She instinctively stood up at the name of Itachi's collaborator and as if she was planning on it, she calmly took the name card and read the writings on it. It was fairly simple. The paper was light grey with only his name and his post written on it. She was so close to thinking that he was an imposter who wanted to get all the juicy details of the collaboration between the Uchiha Itachi and Akasuna Sasori.

"Don't worry, un. I'm the real deal. For one, I know that our bosses only agree on the color theme so far and it's been almost a month and a half."

Sakura's shoulder visibly relaxed and she sat back down when she saw him doing the same. "Thank you for making some time for this," Sakura smoothly covered. She did not even know that she was going to meet him today of all days. Itachi always set her up on a surprise meeting and she could never predict who she was going to meet.

"Well, un, actually, I don't really have much time but you've been sending me so much e-mails for the past few days asking to meet up and discuss about what day is good for the first ever meeting between Danna and Uchiha-san."

 _Damn Itachi._

She took in the sight of the lean man in front of her. He was tall but he could not be any taller than Itachi. His face reminded her so much of Ino that she was too weirded out to even comment on it because seeing the face of someone she knew almost all her life on a person of the opposite gender was almost scary, almost like it was reminding her of how long it was already since she contacted her childhood friend. Appearance aside, he seemed to be a confident man though with the way he was grumbling earlier, he did not seem to be the type who was capable of separating his personal emotions from business.

"Right," Sakura answered. "Sasori-san told Itachi-san that he doesn't have time for a meeting this month or the month after or even the month after that." She thanked God that she remembered all of Itachi's ramblings. She saw Deidara's eyes glinting in that knowing way she recognized and she immediately knew that he was going to make up an excuse to confirm Sasori's excuse so she cut him before he could even start. "This meeting is crucial for the success of the event and we would even take your lunchtime or any time when you have a break in your schedule or even after your schedule is done. Of course, this is only if we are free."

Deidara's blue eyes narrowed. "Haruno-san. I cannot just fit an important meeting like this into the little time that we have, un."

"Exactly," Sakura nodded in agreement. "That's why we want to ask you to kindly free your Sunday." Seeing the beginning of a protest, she hastily continued. "I know it's your free day. It's mine, too. It's the only day I can rest and not think about anything work-related." She threw the thoughts of sleeping in to the back of her head. "But like we both are aware of, this is an important meeting. We only have eleven months left to think about the design, to find the exact material, to find the right models and everything else related to this project. Itachi-san is a very particular person and he is rather particular about this kind of things."

Deidara shook his head. "That is true but they have both agreed to separate the work equally. You guys can do those works and we can do everything media-related, un."

Sakura mentally searched through her mind if Itachi had ever said such thing and found no such thing. She gave a wry smile. "This clothes are as much your as it is ours. It would be better if the clothes show that they are both Sasori-san and Itachi-san's handiwork. To be honest, I don't think discussing through phone calls and e-mails alone are sufficient. I know that Sasori-san is not the kind of guy who go around meeting people but as it is a collaboration, he needs to at least contribute something and there's nothing better than to have a face-to-face conversation about this, Deidara-san."

The man narrowed his eyes at her for a few seconds. "Are you saying that Sasori-danna isn't doing much work, un?"

Realizing what the words she let out earlier was implying, she stood strong on her grounds. "Is he contributing anything if all he's done is disagree with Itachi-san without even suggesting what we should do instead?"

The man was quiet for another second before he burst out laughing to Sakura's surprise. "Man. Danna will flip when he hear this." Sakura could not find anything funny if Sasori actually flipped. From what she heard, the man had quite a temper. "Okay. We can meet up on the day after tomorrow, un. Friday. Is 7pm good?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes, 7pm should be fine."

"I'll excuse myself for now, un," he said, standing up. "I really do have a lot to do. That's why I suggested to meet on my lunch break."

Sakura smiled while also standing up. She reached into the pocket of her skirt and handed him her card with both hands. "I hope you won't cancel on us, Deidara-san," Sakura pointedly said, deciding that being honest would be better since the atmosphere around them had now changed.

"Oh, don't count on it. I doubt Sasori-danna will do that, un," he smirked, taking the card from her. His eyebrows scrunched as he read it. "Is this your another e-mail?"

"Yes," she smoothly lied. "That was actually my first point of contact for first time contacts. Just to make sure that they won't get overlooked, you know."

"Smart, un." He waved the card at her. "I'll be going now."

Sakura watched as Deidara strutted towards the entrance and as soon as she saw him out of the door, she immediately pulled out her phone and clicked the number on speed dial.

It had not even been three seconds when she heard him picking up.

"Friday. 7pm."

"Good."

"Sasori-san will be in a bad mood though."

"Good, you'll take care of that too."

"What?!" She looked at the screen of her phone as if that would confirm what she heard before bringing the phone back to her ear. "You can't be- "

Before she could even finish what she said, the line went dead.

* * *

 **AN: The plot bunnies suddenly came alive again and I just have to write this down. Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Warning: Characters will be out of character for the purpose of this fanfiction.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be. Any similarity with real life event is not intended and is purely coincidental.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

First of all, by no means was Sakura a lazy employee. In fact, everyone knew her as some kind of a workaholic. She was the kind of person who would follow the schedule in her planner to a tee. She had always set a time in order to get her work done depending on the workload.

Okay, to be honest, she would be lazy if she could. She had no time to be lazy anyway even if she wanted to. Her slave driver of a boss made sure of that. Uchiha Itachi was the best in his field but there was a reason why he was the best. He was a super perfectionist. That indirectly meant that Sakura had to make sure that everything would be finished on time with very little mistake if at all. So really, she actually had all the time in the world but not to be lazy.

Second of all, considering Itachi's perfectionist tendencies, having other people's jobs being thrown like curve ball at her just because they did some or little mistake and Itachi suddenly decided that they could not be trusted were not a new occurrence for her. Rather, she would be more surprised if it did not happen within a day. That said, she was not susceptible to pressure.

Third of all… Sakura was as calm as the sea. Oh, who was she kidding. She had the temper of a tyrant. Actually that was just exaggerating it. Rather, Sakura could be calm but once something irked her, she would not be able to think straight. Sakura was the kind of person who was unable to see reason whenever she was angry. She would be emotional and she would be unable to act rational.

Therefore, the conclusion of all of this was that Sakura would not be the right person to be allowed to _take care_ of Sasori, as Itachi kindly put it. Placing a man famously known to be very disagreeable with Sakura would be like lighting a match in a gas room.

Sakura tried to knock this particular conclusion into Itachi's head but rather unsurprisingly, nothing went into that thick head of his. Instead, what she got when she went back to her office was a stack of files which contained all information related to the problematic designer. Looking up to the heavens with a sigh, she prayed time and time that she was not involved in some kind of a shady business. Getting information related to his work was okay because that was practically public information but running a very detailed background check on him which left nothing to imagination, she was sure, was illegal.

Opening the file on the very top, the first document that she saw was Sasori's birth certificate and after that was his criminal records, which was clean just in case you were wondering, and his direct relatives' criminal records after that.

Had she ever mentioned that her employer had trust issues?

"Perfect," she muttered. "Just perfect."

This was probably Itachi's way of saying that she would be taking care of it no matter what. Nothing could possibly change Itachi's mind. Looking at the bright side, she now got her answer. This probably translated to ' _I don't give a damn what_ you _think_ ' in Itachi's language.

"Argh!"

Sakura intended to slam the file shut but the sound that it gave was lighter than intended. Standing up from her seat, she stomped towards the door that connected her room to her employer's.

Now, Sakura's office was not that big. It was built sufficiently just to suit her job and natural needs, meaning her room was filled to the brim with filing cabinets used to store Itachi's designs and portfolios and whatsoever with three doors which lead to the hallway, toilet and Itachi's office respectively.

So it did not really take that long for her to reach the door to Itachi's office. Without bothering to knock, she tried the knob only to find that it was locked.

"Open the door, you jerk!" She tried the knob again several times she swore it was loosening up.

The guy probably knew that she was going to slam the door open until it fell off its hinges. There was no other plausible explanation why he would lock the door.

Suddenly she heard footsteps getting closer. She instinctively let go of the knob just as the door was practically ripped open and the emotionless stare of her employer greeted her.

It did not take much effort for her to actually see the bed hair that her employer was sporting and his lack of necktie and his unbuttoned shirt. Gulping at the sight before her, she stuttered.

"W-what the heck are you doing?" A fine looking man like Uchiha Itachi should not be let walking around like that.

"I'm supposed to be the one asking you that," he replied coolly. Leaving the door open, he went to his sofa which, once Sakura had a good look, was covered with a throw. "You disturbed my sleep."

"I didn't know you were sleeping," she retorted softly while her eyes ran over his toned back that was almost visible through his crumpled shirt. She just stared as he threw himself on the sofa in an unbelievably graceful way before she took a seat on the opposite sofa. If she was the one doing that, she was sure she would end up looking like a slouching potato. Remembering that she was supposed to be angry, in a scorned voice, she smartly pointed, "You seem to have a lot of time. I'm sure you'll have enough to actually sit through with Sasori instead of leaving me to it."

At the blank stare that she received, she felt compelled to continue. "I mean, if you want to." She fidgeted. "You don't really have to do it if you don't want to. I mean you're the boss and all and I'm just your employee." She shook her head and lifted her head slightly in confidence and seeing what looked like amusement in his eyes only resolved her determination, "A very _overworked_ employee, mind you. I still have to oversee the operation of our store in Shibuya and there's that Harajuku store that we were planning to open and there's also the decision for special pieces for each district and-"

"Sakura."

 _Gulp_. "Yeah?"

Oh shit. That tone. She was going to be in a lot of trouble. Was that not amusement that she saw after all? Did she imagine it?

"I'm sure you know what I expect of you."

Nope. Not amusement.

"Yeah but- "

"As far as I am concerned, I paid you to do your job and I expect nothing less from you." A flash passed on his eyes and Sakura involuntarily shivered. "However, since you feel like I overworked you and you _feel_ like you can't do this one measly job, I can definitely deduct an equally _measly_ amount from your remuneration."

"No!" Sakura definitely thought that she only yelled it in her head but apparently not. "You can't do that. You know I've spent-". She realized that she almost shared personal information with him. "Gah! You're insufferable, you know that?!"

Itachi gave her a pointed look. Sakura swore that he knew about her feelings for him. Whenever he gave her that look, there seemed to be the unspoken words taunting her, ' _But this is the insufferable jerk that you're in love with_.' It could be just her being paranoid though.

She stood up in a final defiant act and huffed a breath. Itachi, though, was unaffected as he just glanced at the door in a silent command for her to get out.

* * *

As soon as she got off work, the first thing that Sakura did was went to the dessert cafe that she frequented and ordered a plate of Shibuya honey toast with extra vanilla ice cream.

The shop was located in an alley few blocks away from her workplace. She stumbled onto it one day when she took a wrong turn while replying to Itachi's e-mails that he deemed urgent on her phone. Sufficed to say, she was lost at that time and fear was gnawing at her very core when she saw people eyeing her in what she suspected were a malicious way. Obviously she thought that she was going to say goodbye to the world and almost typed a short will to the person who she was replying to at that time. She hastily ran to the nearest entrance when she felt like someone was following her and lo and behold, it turned out to be this beautiful café.

Well, her first time coming to the place was not intentional. She still remember that she thought she had finally found her sanctuary only to realize that she came in from a dodgy alley into a very darkly lit café owned by an equally dodgy looking café owner who had a dodgy looking mask covering half of his face who had a very amused look in his eyes when she practically sprinted into the café. However, this place had quickly become her favourite place especially when she wanted to have her Sakura-time.

Sakura, under the rich ambience of the café, acted as if she was in a high class café. She cut the toast with proper dining etiquette that belied her actual birth right. She brought a fork that she used to gently stab a slice of toast to her mouth and almost purred as the taste melted in her mouth.

At least that was what she did during the first bite. After that, whatever lady act she was doing was long forgotten and she practically shoved every bits of toast down her throat. Rather than being angry at Itachi, she was angry at herself. How could she let herself be manipulated like this by Itachi? She might have a crush on that boss of hers but she also had every right to say no to a job that she was unable to do if she reasonably thought that it would affect the company's reputation. Plus, what good would her mouth be in negotiating when her brain was tired as fuck. She suddenly stopped chomping down on her food.

"A valid argument for your fight with your boss just entered your head?"

She turned her head to the source of the voice and saw the dodgy looking owner wiping a tall glass with a crinkle at the side of his eyes. She opted for the bar table this time thinking that the tall her chair would help her climb up away from her misery. Slowly, she swallowed her food and croaked out, "How can you tell?"

"You've been here for the last four years, Sakura-chan. I remember your routine. It's really getting old."

Sakura rolled her eyes at him and stabbed an already cut toast. "Sorry for being so predictable, Kakashi-san." She shoved it into her mouth.

He chuckled. "Yeah," he said easily, "You need a new act thought up."

She ignored him and stared at her almost clean plate. "Do you think that was why he handled it so easily? Because I'm predictable? " She dug into what was left of her ice cream with the fork. "Knowing him, he might have his answers all lined up in a sequence. Oh gosh, I must be easy!"

Her last statement earned her looks from the other customers, not that she was aware.

"Again, same old routine." Kakashi placed the glass on the shelf and went on to work on the other glasses. In an unhelpful way, he stated, "Do you really just realize that? Anyway, I'm sure that's a good thing. It's probably because of that that your boss kept you around."

"Not. Helping," Sakura growled. She did not need to hear that. That would crush all her hopes of something blooming out of this employer-employee relationship. One would think that the fact that nothing had happened would stop her from hoping but she had always had a romanticized version of why Itachi kept her. The fact that Itachi had never came into contact with another girl only strengthened her hope.

"I say that you need to grow some backbones." He shook his head and nodded his head in acknowledgement at the guy who waved at him in thanks as he left the café. "You seem to not have any problem with your backbones when it comes to other people but when it comes to this boss of yours, you act like he's a Death God and get all weak in the knees in fear."

She got weak in the knees, alright. Just not quite from fear.

"I do have a backbone whenever it comes to him, thank you very much," she said indignantly. "It just happened to evaporate at some point after that."

"My point exactly."

"You haven't met my boss. He's scary."

He gave her a knowing look that gave her the impression that he did not believe what she just said. "I'm sure he is."

"Whatever." She sighed.

"I'm going to act all nice concerned big brother on you and say, "Grow a backbone"."

"I'm going to act like a rebellious little sister and yell that I already have one."

"You're not yelling."

"You're not concerned."

Maybe he did have a point. Sakura did need to assert her rights.

* * *

 **AN: First of all, I want to thank everyone who reviewed, Favorited and Alerted. I suddenly feel more motivated to write this, lol. It is, after all, an almost plotless story and even I don't know where this will be heading. Almost.**

 **This was supposed to be out Last Friday but my laptop got formatted and I forgot to back it up so yeah. I hope you guys love it! Please leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Warning: Characters will be out of character for the purpose of this fanfiction.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or the characters in it. I apologize if this is similar to some other fanfic and I can assure you that this fanfic is as original as it can be. Any similarity with real life event is not intended and is purely coincidental.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 3**

She would love to say and claim that Itachi had finally changed his mind and decided to let her _let him_ do the honour of taking care of, as he eloquently said it, Akasuna No Sasori but that did not happen.

Instead, he let her work outside the office. He allowed her to spend her day at the Shinjuku store supervising the workers and making sure that the store was in a top condition. It just happened to be her luck that she discovered that a few boxes of items was mistakenly set to be mailed to the Shinjuku branch instead of to the Shibuya branch. The employees, diligent as they were, had already readied the items for sale. They already ironed them, attached the price tag to them and displayed them for sale. Reportedly, they did see in the inventory list that it was set for Shibuya but since it was mailed there, they thought that it was a typo.

Naturally, she had to make sure that all of the items had been taken off the rack and considering that it was a three-level store, she had been using up her energy checking for about four times that all items had really been taken off the rack. Damn her perfectionist tendency. Itachi's perfectionist character must have already been rubbed on her. Now only if other parts of him were the one rubbing on her say like –

Whoa, stop right there!

Nope, she was not going to continue that thought because she was supposed to be mad at him right now. He could have at least accompanied her to the meeting at seven because that was a part of his responsibility at least. What was she going to do if both Sasori and Deidara would be there during the meeting. That would be difficult. Two against one. Yeah, right.

Sakura had been abusing the keyboards on the computer writing an e-mail about the package being mistakenly sent here to the Shibuya Branch when she heard a low persistent cough amidst the many voices in the shared sales team office. She was seated in one of the many cubicles and considering the fact that it was flu season and it was not the first time that day she was hearing someone coughing their throat off, she did not even bother to lift her head despite the small voice in her head telling her to acknowledge the voice.

The cough came again and this time it was louder.

She scanned what she wrote a couple of times feeling as if something was still missing. She felt like there was something that she was planning to include in the e-mail but had forgotten.

There was the cough again. This time, she couldn't help but remarked without looking at the perpetrator, "I think you better get yourself some water if you don't want to choke or something. You seem to get a nasty cough there and," she finally turned to look at the direction where she thought the cough was coming from and trailed off when she was met with the unamused stare of her employer.

"Thank you for your concern, Sakura but I'm quite sure I send you here to supervise this place, not to give free doctor's advice."

Ignoring the embarrassment clawing at her insides and the red hue threatening to explode on her face, she glared at Itachi. "Glad that you managed to get your ass here, Itachi." She turned to the computer screen and clicked 'Send' despite her dissatisfaction with what she wrote. "I left you a lot of texts and calls, you know, which you, by the way, ignored." From the corner of her eyes, she saw him reaching for his phone as she signed out from her e-mail account. "But I assure you, I have no more energy to try and persuade you to the meeting. I've been running around to make sure that none of the items have been sold. Luckily, none have been recorded in the cashier's system and the amount matches the amount in the inventory so yep. All is good. Except probably tonight's meeting. I have probably exhausted all my brain cells for the day. There's no way to jumpstart them unless I have one of those coffees from the café down the street which I will not have time to visit because the meeting is in an hour and a half and I still have to see that the boxes are ready to be sent for tomorrow."

By the end her weak attempt at backing off from the meeting disguised as some kind of a lame report which Itachi probably did not need since she already texted him the detailed situation, she let out an exaggerated sigh of exhaustion. She braved herself to look at her boss if only to see his reaction and was surprised to see that he was no longer looking at his phone and was instead staring intently at her. She could practically see the gears in his head working. His eyes seemed to be clear and his lips twitched.

Now only if she saw love and adoration shining in his eyes and her life would be perfect.

"Thank you, Sakura. What will I ever do without you." The dry tone of his voice threw her off.

She stood up from her seat and muttered while picking up her things. "You could have at least say thanks."

She was already stressed and adding up the fact that he came to see her only to upset her further, she just could not wait for the day to be over. She walked pass him after excusing herself because he was still her superior and despite her sometimes rude character, she still respected people above her.

She felt more than heard him moving to walk next to her. His scent assaulted her nose at his proximity causing an unnecessary calm to flow within her. He always had that effect on her.

"Let's go get some coffee," he said, his stride purposefully matching hers. "We'll need them before the meeting."

Sakura almost tripped on air but somehow she still managed to match his stride while snapping her head towards his. Did she hear it right? " _We_?"

He met her eyes for a second. He saw an employee holding the door to one of the elevators open when he saw him. Sakura nodded in thanks to the poor employee who seemed to tremble at Itachi's presence before she went in at the same time as Itachi.

"Which floor?" the nervous employee managed to get out.

"Ground," Itachi told him just as Sakura said, "Basement."

The employee was about to click the button of the basement floors when Itachi addressed him again. "Just the ground floor," he demanded.

Sakura glared at Itachi and bit back her tongue to hold her back from cursing at him. The PA in her screamed at her that any appearance of insubordination would affect Itachi's reputation.

So she just gulped down her annoyance and reminded him, "I have to go check the boxes."

"I have that taken care off," he easily answered. "If you would just let me talk earlier, you would have known that I went to the basement first before I went to you."

Sakura's eyes glittered in concealed rage. He had many opportunities to say that and he did not even take time to give her that very information. Instead of answering Itachi, she snapped at the employee who looked like he wished he was not in the elevator with them.

"Fine. Ground floor."

The guy hastily clicked the ground floor button and the second floor button after a few thoughts. Sakura knew that he just wanted to get out of the elevator as fast as he could. In fact, he almost ran out of it when the door opened to the second floor.

Sakura sighed and with the guy out of the vicinity, she turned to Itachi and glared as many daggers as she could. Itachi, though, was unaffected. " _We_?" she repeated her earlier question.

She saw his lips twitch again. "I told you that you'll be taking care of Sasori, not that I won't be coming with."

"And you didn't bother to correct me?"

He shrugged just as the door opened. He let her walked out first before him. Her strides were a lot faster now and uneven, her temper controlling her. It did not take a lot of effort for him to match her pace considering his height advantage.

"No."

Sakura gritted her teeth. "If only you're not my employer. This day is bad enough as it is and you just made it worse." They reached the entrance and at the sight of the heavy rain outside, she groaned. "Okay, I take that back. This," she gestured at the rain, "made it worse."

She did not care that the two securities at the door might be listening to her rants. The stress was getting to her head. That, and it might be almost that time of the month.

"We can take my car."

"Just to cross the street?" she asked, staring at him incredulously.

He did not answer her. He had that thinking look on his face again before he shook off his blazer and took off his hair tie. He ran a hand through his hair and it took a lot of effort for Sakura to not faint right then. He handed her the blazer. His scent was stronger now.

"Put this on," he directed before turning to the security who was trying to not watch and listen to their exchange. He made some kind of a gesture and one of the securities rushed inside. He turned back to Sakura who was looking at the blazer questioningly. "Did I not make myself clear enough?"

"I might get this wet," she weakly lied. Of course it would get wet. The wind was inconsistent and they wouldn't know the direction of the rain. She could not say out what she was thinking exactly now, could she? She had imagined this scene many times in her head. Itachi giving her his blazer and them braving the rain running under the piece of cloth. It took five years but it was finally happening.

"Better than you flashing your undergarment at everyone under that white top of yours."

Is that concern she was hearing?

"That blouse is one of our latest design. I would not want it to be displayed at its worse condition," he reasoned."

Yep. Just not at her.

Despite this revelation, it did not remove the warm feeling inside her.

By then, the security returned with a large umbrella in his hand.

They ended up crossing the road with Itachi's blazer covering her and the large umbrella covering them from the rain. The umbrella did very little to save them for being wet as she could still feel the rain spraying on her but when she glanced at Itachi, she felt as if the day was suddenly taking a turn to a more positive one.

Remember when she said that this day was the worse day of her life? Well, she wanted to take that back and ask for a refund of her words. Today was definitely one of the best days of her life.

* * *

At 6.45pm on the dot, they confidently walked through the entrance of Sasori's office building. Itachi's hair was back in his usual ponytail and Sakura's blouse was still in its top condition. They had been discussing what they would be negotiating on during the meeting when they were at the café. Sakura was surprised that Itachi had it all thought up until she was reminded of the fact that he had always intended to go to the meeting.

Sometime during their meeting, Sakura finally accepted that it was her fault for drawing conclusions without actually confirming it with her first. It probably did not help that anyone could inevitably take Itachi's words wrongly but… Okay, it was just a bit difficult for her to stay mad at Itachi for too long since he was her employer. There were definitely other different reasons but she did not want to get distracted now. Not when she had a meeting to attend.

There was no introduction needed as one of the receptionists immediately approached them as they entered. She simply confirmed their identity and directed them to the very top floor. They were already informed that they would be coming.

There, they were greeted by Deidara and the subtle glance that Itachi directed at her seemed to be saying the same thing that she thought when she first met the man. He had an eerie resemblance with Ino.

Before Deidara could even introduce himself, Itachi put out his hand and introduced himself first.

"Uchiha Itachi."

Sakura knew immediately that Itachi was indirectly informing Deidara that he was here to negotiate, not the one being negotiated. He wanted Deidara to know that whatever they will be talking about with Sasori, Itachi would be the one to hold the power to the result. This had been the norm for Itachi and Sakura was used to it. If he was not the one in the bargaining position, then he would have let Deidara introduced herself. He liked asserting his position.

There was a glimpse of annoyance in the blonde's eyes but he smiled and shook Itachi's hand. "Deidara, un, Sasori-Danna's assistant." He did not even bother to hide the fact that he was assessing Itachi. Itachi's towering height did not intimidate him and Sakura immediately wondered just what kind of a guy Akasuna no Sasori was.

"You guys are early, un." He pointed out. Deidara held his hand out for Sakura to shake which she accepted. "Nice to meet you again, Haruno-san," he smirked.

Sakura felt obligated to return it with a smile. "Likewise. Our previous appointment ended early."

"That's nice," he commented dutifully. He reluctantly turned to Itachi. "Fortunately, our previous appointment ended early too, un. Sasori-Danna is already waiting for you two. This way, un."

He led them to the office that, unlike Itachi's, was only separated from the room by a frosted glass. Deidara did not bother to knock and just threw the door open. The man in the room did not even reprimand him. A smile almost appeared on Sakura's face at the familiarity of the exchange. She wondered if all fashion designers were like that.

"I take it that they've arrived?" a calm, almost bored voice questioned.

They waited for Deidara to invite them in and when he did, Sakura could not help but let her eyes wander around the room. The room was as simple as she expected it to be. What caught her attention though were the puppet dolls filling the top level of Sasori's bookshelf. She suddenly remembered that Itachi told her about Sasori's earlier profession of making puppets and clothing lines for dolls before he decided to venture into making clothes for humans.

Finally her eyes made it to the red-haired man sitting behind the only desk in the room. He assessed Itachi with an unreadable expression before his brown eyes landen on Sakura's green one. At the sight of her, his lips curled into a smile that sent shivers down her spine.

Her mind involuntarily travelled back to when she was meeting Deidara for the first time.

. _"Is he contributing anything if all he's done is disagree with Itachi-san without even suggesting what we should do instead?"_

 _"Man. Danna will flip when he hear this."_

…Shit. Could this day not get any better?

* * *

 **AN:** **Yep, Chapter 3 is finally you for the reviews, favourites and alerts for the last chapter! They really made me happy. Anyway, finally got the time to work on this. Hope you guys like this chapter!**

 **Please leave a review and let me know what you think!**


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